NASCAR’s 2025 schedule has a lot for traditional fans to love

NASCAR’s going international, but there’s also plenty of racing in the sport’s North Carolina heartland in the 2025 schedule, released Thursday.

The headline of the schedule release is the Mexico City event. Scheduled for June 15th, it will be the first points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race outside of the country since 1958 and the first race of any sort since the exhibition races at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan in the 1990s.

The event will run on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez road course, the same track that plays host to the Formula One grand prix. NASCAR will race on almost the same layout as the F1 cars, with the only change being to cut out one tight chicane by skipping Turns 5 and 6 altogether of the 14-turn circuit.

The Xfinity Series will also host a points race at the track on June 14th. NASCAR’s second-tier series has raced at this track four times in the past from 2005 until 2008, with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch both picking up wins during that time.

Mexico comes onto the schedule to replace one of the Richmond dates. After years of races decided on strategy with limited on-track racing that dented its Action Track image, Richmond has struggled to draw a full crowd in recent years even after removing grandstands and widening seats in 2016. That means Richmond’s only date will be in the fall: August 16th, to be specific, with the Trucks on the 15th.

The addition of the track inside busy Mexico City makes it the series’ second downtown road course, although this one’s more permanent. The temporary Chicago Street Course will be rebuilt for next year, though. Once again, it will run over the July 4th weekend, with the Xfinity Series race on the 4th and the Cup Series race on the 6th.

And, on the topic of road courses, there’s an all-new one joining NASCAR’s list of tracks. Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park, a well-known and well-respected sports car track, has hosted NASCAR Modified and ARCA racing in the past. However, its addition to the Truck Series calendar on June 28th is its first appearance on a national series schedule.

But for all the new road course racing throughout the country and throughout the continent, there are also some additions closer to home.

In the Cup Series, that’s in the form of Bowman Gray Stadium hosting the season-opening Clash. Known as The Madhouse, the North Carolina track is a popular quarter-mile bullring around a football field that draws sold-out crowd to NASCAR Weekly Series events. Built in 1937, the facility has been around the sport since its inception.

In the Xfinity and Truck Series, it’s the return of the famed Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. The Rock, as it’s known, is a high-banked one-mile oval that hosted Cup Series racing from 1965 until 2004. The track continued to host racing, and in 2021 North Carolina governor Roy Cooper signed a budget that allocated $40 million to Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

That investment has allowed Rockingham to make investments to its facilities and secure its return to the schedule, something longtime fans have requested for years. It also allowed comprehensive improvements to the derelict North Wilkesboro in time for it to return for the All-Star Race. North Wilkesboro will continue in that slot for 2025.

All told, with Bowman Gray, Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, and Charlotte, NASCAR will host five race weekends at North Carolina tracks. That includes the Roval at Charlotte, and the unique road course will once again be a Playoff race.

Another short oval outside of North Carolina that NASCAR recently began to race at after years of waiting is Iowa. The 7⁄8-mile track will return to the schedule for August 3rd, with the Xfinity Series on August 2nd.

The Rockingham return headlines a larger 25-race schedule for the Truck Series, giving more time to watch the trucks on the track and more development opportunities for drivers moving up the NASCAR pipeline. This year’s schedule featured 23 events.

Speaking of the Playoffs, the Playoffs will once again finish at Daytona and open at Darlington for a chaotic end and beginning to the regular season and postseason respectively. There will be some changes, though, as it will be the first Playoff appearance for Gateway and New Hampshire, two short ovals. The championship round is also on a short oval in Phoenix.

The first round will be Darlington, Gateway, and Bristol. The second round will feature New Hampshire, Kansas, and the Charlotte Roval. The third round will be Las Vegas, Talladega, and Martinsville. Phoenix will once again be the championship race.

There are certainly some events to grow new fans, something NASCAR continues to focus on. But the 2025 schedule is also designed to impress NASCAR’s traditional crowd with more racing in its North Carolina heartland at some of its most iconic venues.

One thing that will change in a big way? The TV rights. With four television partners next season – FOX, NBC, The CW, and Amazon Prime, NASCAR races will be in even more places. That might make it harder to find for fans, but a good TV deal is critical for NASCAR to reinvest in the sport as it continues to start growing again.

2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

2025 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES SCHEDULE

2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE

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Owen Johnson

Owen Johnson is Associate Editor at CupScene.com and caraganza.com, covering NASCAR and motorsports at the track and beyond. He’s written about the sport for years, starting at DriveTribe, where he managed NASCAR content. He's also a law student in London.

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